World Alone's to Blame
by SaraSedge
Summary: Few days from 'War of the Best'. The brothers, Ace and Luffy, are tired and weakened by Marines' attacks, running off and leaving their friends and family to fall one after another. Eventually, they find themselves on an one-village island, where they could rest a bit. Something's still off with the island. Soon, they'll know the stepping on this island was a big mistake. AU
1. Losing Everything

Hey, you awesome people of internet! u This's my first time writing a whole story in English, so there'll be some mistakes and I hope that it doesn't prevent you so much :) I translated this from Finnish to English 'bout 9 hours, so I hope that you'll enjoy this ^^ andpleasedonthatemecauseofthis ;^;

**DISCLAIMER:** The characters Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace belongs to the Great Eiichiro Oda, as well the whole One Piece. This Alternative Universe (AU), the bad guy of this story and the story itself belongs to SaraSedge, in other words to myself.

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The breathing started to turn into white, warm smoke in front of my face, as soon as it came out from my mouth - it seems like the day has turned into a frosty night. I felt how my blood rushed through my veins, thanks to the long, restless run, and every step that I took sounded in my head like a shotgun'd have been shot next to my ear. That startled even the deep parts of me and I looked few times behind my back - to see empty houses where somebody, some families'd lived.

I shouldn't be afraid of bullets or gun - I'm the fire itself, the user of Devil's Fruit named 'Flame-Flame Fruit'. The bullet just should go through me, making no harm to my physical body. But that man's bullets - and maybe even the gun itself - has made from the Sea Stone. The throbbing pain on my right side proved part of my theory correct. That made me bite my teeth together. Damn it you World Government, you just keep building more and more dangerous toys!

I noticed a escarpment next to a house, which was hidden pretty good for a unknown reason. I jumped there and landed on my feet, as usually, but the impact of the landing ran through my hole body. I believed that's because of distance of my run.

Then I heard a loud thud, when somebody landed right next to me. The blood run away from my face, and my heart skipped a beat. Did that man already find my rest place? I turned towards him, and I was ready to dodge an attack or attack on him - both of which were bad options in that small area. Instead I met a boy with a jet black hair and surprised dark eyes.

"L-Luffy", I got out of my mouth in relief. I hit his head with my right hand, because my baby brother got me on my toes - well, that hit was for myself too, because I forgot that we BOTH were running away from that mysterious man with Sea Stone bullets. The hit didn't cause any damage except for a small bump on Luffy's head, which he didn't even care about for my surprise.

However the hit impacted myself. The pain on my side felt like somebody'd turned a knife in the wound. I put my hand down and put my left hand on my wound. The concern shine in Luffy's eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked and reached out to my wound, but I put his hand away from me.

"Of course I'm, you idiot. I'm not gonna die to that, and I can take care of myself", I said with a small smile. "You should be more worried about yourself than myself."

Luffy looked at me still worried, but then he smiled his old smile . "Surely", he laughed and looked up into the sky. "That guy's strong - in very funny way."

"I think he got a gun with Sea Stone bullets to clear us, pirates with Devil's Fruit, out of the order", I said quickly, because knew that Luffy couldn't understand any longer explanation than one sentence. The shivers went down to my spine because of my synonym of death. Usually that word'd made me smirk, but now that word is more real than before to me, and the one of reasons why is that Luffy has got involved in. He turned his head towards me.

"Which means that our powers are useless with that guy", I stated and took my bloody hand off of my wound for a good example.

"So, why don't we just walk off?" Luffy asked. I looked him with 'What's-moving-in-your-head-all-this-time' -look, but I started to explain the situation to him. Better than get both of us killed.

"I believe, that you remember when we arrived to this village?" I asked and got a nod from him. "When we stepped further into, I felt… some strange energy change in the air, but I took a notice of it when we tried to get out. We couldn't get off the village, like there's some kind of a dome around the village. I haven't seen anybody, expect us and that guy, around here. So, I doubt that he's a Devil's Fruit -user with an ability to surround things and people with a dome", I said and the cold started to get into me. How much have they planned for us, if we get through this?

"So, we just have to kick that gun guy's ass, and we can get off this island?" Luffy asked with a grin, as he rubbed his palms together.

"Yep, but first we got to find a shelter on our heads for the rest of the night. I'd be fine under the sky, but not you", I stated and the normal smile of mine came back to my face.

"I can survive any ni..!" Luffy'd have shout for a protest, if I wouldn't shut his mouth with my clean hand.

"Hush", I let a silent breath between the teeth and glanced around us. Nobody's around, yet. "Let's make few things clear before we start move", I continued on the same volume and I turned my head back towards Luffy. He didn't even try to get my hand off his mouth - again, for my surprise -, and he looked at me, waiting for me to go on.

Suddenly, a picture appeared in my eyes. A boy with a blonde hair, a grin without a tooth and a large hat on his head. Everything we did, every childish dispute we'd, every beast we took out; they all went on fast forward to the picture, where Sabo was forced to return to his home, so those pirates wouldn't hurt me or Luffy.

I bit my lower lip. I won't let Luffy get hurt next to me, as long as this cursed blood run through my veins. I won't let anyone dear to me slip between my fingers, for Sabo's sake.

"First of all", I started. "Don't let the predominance go to your head. Even through we've two against the one, we should still be careful. Clear?" Luffy nodded, as it's a matter of course to him.

"For the second, don't play venturesome. You're then only begging the death", I continued and took my hand off his mouth.

"And the third and the most important thing. If one of us falls, we won't stop. Okay?" I ended. Little brother's eyes widened, when he understood what I meant. If either of us falls, right here and now - which'll be most likely me -, the one won't stop to help or fight back. His mouth opened as an objection.

"I won't leave you, Ace! Not even if you died!" Luffy yelled frantic, and took my arms firmly. "You won't die here, if you didn't even die when you've sentenced to death! I would rather die than see you die! You won't die, you promised me! Right… Ace?" I was astonished by my brother's will to keep me alive.

Although it has been many years, I still remember all men, who would've liked to torture and kill me, if they'd known who's son I was. Nobody wanted me alive - the fact that I was born is a great injustice. But now, I've so many people around me who don't care who's son I was. They were ready to take on the world, even die, on my behalf. Something moves inside of me every time I think of them. Those idiots, my family.

"Ace? Ace!" Luffy cried and shook my arms, when I didn't give any answer. When I found myself gazing forward, I recoiled from my thoughts. Jet black hair and dark eyes, the same ones that I've. A scar above his left eye. My dear, idiotic baby brother, who would've died few dozen times without me. I took a hold of his arms and smiled at him.

"Oh c'mon, do you think that I'm gonna die? You gonna die in this kind of a situation, and I can't leave a brother like you behind", I said. The waist, big blue sky and sea opened up again in front of me, as I stood there next to Luffy. He'd squeeze his treasure hat to cover up his crying eyes and his words, will wanting to be stronger echoed in my ears. I was ready to repeat the same words from 10 years ago. "I won't die, Luffy."

The silence came for a moment before Luffy let his hands off my arms. I did the same, and I noticed that he'd a bloody handprint on his right arm. Suddenly he started to smile and a little laughter came from his mouth.

"I wanted to hear that", Luffy said still smiling.

"Then, what's the plan?" I asked smiling as well.

"Go and kick that Sea Stone guy's ass", he answered, and put his straw-hat from his back on his head.

"Yeah, but what should we do before that?" I asked again. Luffy's head tilted to side with a contemplative look, which made me shook my head.

"First, found a place where we could stay the night, and on the morning, find that man", I answered to my own question, and I started to sneak up to the road. A loud 'Ohh' came and the sound of sandals followed me. I turned my head towards the cause of the sounds.

"Luffy, could you..?" I asked, and before I ended my sentence, Luffy took his sandals off with a nod. I sighed, and looked, if something - or somebody - was around. Luckily, there wasn't anything, and I turned back towards him.

"Run on three", I whispered, and Luffy giggled a bit.

"Exciting", he laughed.

"One", I started and turned towards, ready to run.

"Two", Luffy continued. The silence came again, before we both ran off from our momentary rest place. The ground rustled under our feet, when we swotted onward, and our breath came out as a white smoke. Now I could just wish, that that man isn't near…

A loud gasp leaked out in the air, and I felt, how a cold flow of air passed right next to me, where Luffy should've been. The beating of my heart and breathing stopped for a few seconds. I turned back to the direction, where we came, but felt like a forever. When I finally saw Luffy, my stomach turned upside down.

In front of me, few meters away, there was a grey-suit man, who had shot me. He was a lot taller than me, and his, face was covered up with his grey hat's shade. The suit man kept struggling Luffy on stranglehold, and held a gun with his left hand on my brother's black hair.

The wound on my side made my fear to come true - exactly with that gun I've been shot, and now it's on Luffy's head, ready to kill.

"Luffy! Get away from him!" I shouted. I tried to turn my hand on fire and punch that suit man with my signature attack instantly, when Luffy's away from him. For a some reason, it didn't work. I tried again, before I remembered that I'd that bullet still inside of me. Curses flew inside my head and few of them got out between my teeth.

Luffy tried. He kicked man's legs, bit and tried to put man's arm off his neck, but he didn't succeed. The man was like nothing happens. Suddenly Luffy stopped his struggling - his legs hang freely and his head rested on man's arm. Only his hands kept a hold of the strangling arm with a willpower.

"I-I'm sorry… Ace", I heard Luffy apologizing, and he raised his head and eyes up slightly towards me. "I f-feel… all weak… like in the ocean."

I was confused from that. If that gun was made of Sea Stone, it'd only prevent Luffy to use his skills, but it doesn't greatly diminish his energy. Like the bullet inside of me, it'll only stop me to use my Fruit. Unless…

The understanding hit me into my face. There was a satisfied sneer.

"I though you would have understood quickly, Portgas D. Ace", the voice belonged to the man who held Luffy and that voice sounded programmed.

"I am a cyborg made by the World Government. I am made of Sea Stone, and I have created to kill certain Devil's Fruit -users, who would have been greater disadvantage in the future", the cyborg advertised and tilted his head toward Luffy. "Monkey D. Luffy. Wanted dead or alive…" I saw a twisted smile on his face. "I will choose the death."

I gasped in fright. No, I won't let him do that! I tied to run to Luffy and free him before he would press the trigger, but my legs didn't obey the order. I can't remember when I've felt this way, this feeling is taking me over and pumped adrenaline to my veins - I think it's called panic. Luffy looked at me the first time in a long time with a real fear in his eyes.

"LUFFY!" I cried and tried to reach out to him - too far.

"A-ace…", Luffy whispered trembled, still looking at me. The last word.

"Hmp", the Government's subordinate sneered a bigger grin on his face - like he'd have enjoyed the whole situation.

Suddenly everything became dead silence, like the whole world'd have stopped and quiet down to hear one click - the click of the trigger.

Sabo.. Would you please look after Luffy, for me?


	2. Back Home

Konnichiwa to you, awesome reader~

I decided to change this One Shot into a short story v(^u^)v I got some reviews, that encouraged me to continue this~ I hope you liked the first chapter of the story and now, I hope you can also enjoy this.

Also, I wanna thank the awesome **FlightWulf ** from the bottom of my heart for reading this through and correcting my poor grammar. Now, you guys can enjoy this even more!~

Please, could you Review? c: I'd love to hear what do you think about this!

**DISCLAIMER:** The characters Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace and Outlook Sabo belongs to the Great Eiichiro Oda, as well the whole One Piece. This Alternative Universe (AU), the bad guy of this story and the plot itself belongs to SaraSedge, in other words to myself.

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I blinked once. Twice. Three times.

The shock had brought me to my knees on the cold, rocky ground. The painful sensation of my kneecaps scraping against rough stone felt strange and unfamiliar to me, but by then, I paid it no mind. The rest of the world was tuned out as I focused solely on the events abruptly taking place in front of me.  
In a split second, the Kairoseki cyborg's sinister grin had transformed into a painful grimace, head now hanging upside down from his, now broken, neck. My mind struggled to rewind and make sense of what have happened a mere few seconds ago.

'…What...just happened..?'

I thought that I had heard the soft click of a trigger pulling, that I'd seen a sudden splash of crimson nestled amongst my baby brother's dark locks. Though I'd already begged Sabo to take care Luffy for me, I'd been ready to break my own promise and turn around and launch myself at the sadistic b*** - despite the fact that I had only my bare hands to attack with and I knew that this was a battle I couldn't win.

At that moment, before either of us had the chance to move, a metal pipe swung down out of nowhere and slammed down onto the cyborg's occipital. The assumption that the pipe would buckle upon contact was swiftly proven wrong as the android's head first clicked, then snapped and swiveled into an unnatural pose; his head pointing down, his face facing mine. Sparks and the pungent smell of chemical gas erupted from the bionic man and quickly filled the air. The human-robot's grip on Luffy relented, dropping the shell-shocked boy onto the ground.

The cyborg collapsed backwards, landing with a loud crash and releasing another spray of electrical sparks. Time seemed to draw to a halt as the only sound I could hear was the frantic beating of my heart and blood rushing through my ears.  
All the dust that was kicked up from the movement had finally began to settle, and, little by little, our savior was revealed.

My eyes widened and my breathing hitched, unable to process what I was seeing.

In front of me, walking towards us, was a man about at the same age as me and, I quickly estimated, around my height. Draped over the man's shoulders was a long blue, penguin-tail jacket, it's collar flared out and the sleeves wrapped up. He didn't have any other clothing on under the jacket, exposing his chiselled chest and abdomen, with a white necktie wrapped gently around his neck. He held a long metal pipe tightly in his right hand, a black top hat with blue goggles twirling playfully over the end of the pipe, and pale blue jean shorts, which had a black belt with a golden, circular buckle to keep them up. Black boots which seemed to be a few sizes too big made a gentle thudding sound as he neared.  
As he reached the cyborg's side he turned and tapped it lightly with the edge of his boot, before turning back around and facing both Luffy and myself.  
He brought his hand up and scratched his short, curly blond hair and his deep blue eyes sparkled familiarly. The small grin adorning his face revealed a missing canine tooth.

"Don't tell me your skills and senses have grown rusty over all these years. I swear, you guys are so reckless that I have to await each day's newspaper in fear." the blond man scolded halfheartedly.

That voice. Even though it was deeper than I had remembered, I still recognized that voice - as well as the man's whole presence. B-but that was impossible, h-he was…

I glanced Luffy, who had already regained his bearings from the previous close-call, was gawking at the man, jaw dropped and eyes wide with disbelief.

The man spun the top hat on the end of his pipe once more before throwing it up onto his head, smile not once leaving his lips.

"Luffy, you really haven't changed one bit. We needed to run after and rescue you, even if the mess we were saving you from really was completely your fault. It's practically a miracle you've managed to get this far without the help of your brothers. I believe Ace and I have already had more than our fair share of headaches from all your 'adventures'," the blond sighed. Tone growing more serious, he continued, "Thank you, Ace. You've taken good care of Luffy… but now, you won't have to do it alone." The atmosphere grew light when the man began to laugh, the sound sending cold shivers of recognition down my spine.

"It's so great to be back home, Ace! Luffy!"

Silence fell, atmosphere suddenly growing tense again. None of us knew what to say.

Eventually, Luffy was the first to do something. He managed to stand up on his shaky legs and clenched his fists. My baby brother took few, threatening steps towards the man, who seemed to wince a bit at the action. Luffy's steps quickly increased, until he was in a full-blown sprint, and lunged and the top-hat wearing blond.

The next thing that happened we couldn't have envisioned, the boy's straw hat whipping up against his back, as Luffy took his long lost big brother into a surprise hug.

"S-SSAH.. SABOOOH! Y-YOU.. I.. I THOUGHT...WE THOUGHT Y-YOU WERE DEAD!" Luffy bawled, tears quickly soaking his brother's jacket. At first, Sabo tensed in shock at Luffy's teary reaction, but began to calm down his little brother, who was currently crying his eyes out, by rubbing soothing circles into his back. The corners of my mouth pulled up into a small smirk. Luffy has always been incredibly forgiving, maybe a bit too much so.

Getting to my feet, I walked over to my two embracing siblings and playfully snatched Sabo's hat off of his head. A sudden rush of nostalgia hit me as childhood memories began to flow more vividly than they had in all too long. Before I noticed it, my smirk had grown into a full-blown grin. Sabo looked up at me, a tender smile on his lips. I lifted my right hand up and bopped him right on the head. A small jolt of pain traveled through my right side at the action, but at this point, I didn't really care. Sabo's smile vanished, crying out a bit as he brought his left hand up to the lump that was quickly forming on his cranium.

"Ten years, and not a single word. You could've sent a message saying 'I'm alive', or 'I'm okay', or something, so we could've at least known our brother's alive, dammit!" I snapped, gnashing my teeth and anger seeping into my words.

Old memories of Sabo's dad taking our brother away from us and receiving his letter after his supposed death flitted painfully through my mind. I've always blamed myself for all of that - if only we- I - had been stronger, Sabo wouldn't have been taken away from us and felt the need to go out to sea that day. I bit the lower lip, suddenly feeling something warm accumulating in the corners of the eyes.

"Ace, I-", Sabo began, but was quickly cut off as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead into his shoulder. He really was alive, his heart still beating and his lungs still taking in air, just as alive as Luffy and myself are. All the pain and bitter guilt that'd built up on my shoulders after Sabo's death suddenly lightened and vanished. Tears of utter happiness and relief poured from my eyes and soaked into Sabo's jacket.

"…Welcome home, Sabo," I whispered softly, feeling warm droplets of tears drip on my left upper arm, exactly where my 'ASCE' tattoo was, as Sabo stroked my back consolingly. Luffy had finally stopped crying, but continued grip tightly onto Sabo, as if he were a mirage or a dream that would disappear as soon as he let go.

Finally, I realized, there was somebody else in this world I could live for.


	3. Never Turn Back

Konbanwa, minna-san~ *waves*

Oh God, how long has it been since I've uploaded a chapter? A month? *hits the head to the table* I'm so so sorry, forgive me please!

But now first of all since this is the last chapter, **OMGTHANKYOUSOMUCHFORALLOFTHOSEREVIEWSFAVORITESANDFOLLOWSEVERYSWEETVIEWWARMSMYHEART **I really appreciate every one of them~ BTW, this chapter is a bit longer that the others and includes clichés my opinions about Sabo's past. But I know Oda-senpai has something awesome for Sabo in his store, I can feel it in my nuggets~ *rapeface*

Like you may see, this chapter is fully made by me, no one has read this through, because I had a some kind of a... well I dunno what it's, but my beta didn't answer my message and my greatandpowerful patience is running out. Anyway, I hope you can still enjoy this even through my shitty translation is what it is :D

**DISCLAIMER: **The characters _Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace and (Outlook) Sabo_ belongs to the great creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda-senpai~ This _Alernative Universe (AU)_, _THE Kairouseki Zaibourugu and the shitty story_ belongs to me, **SaraSedge** *sparkles* IthinkIshouldtakeabreak,pleaseenjoythemov-story

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Darkness. The disembodied, deep darkness was all around me. Though it felt like I was floating on the ocean - I remembered that from my childhood, since I didn't have the Flame-Flame Fruit by then -, my body felt so heavy, like dozens of heavy weights tried to drag me under the surface. The sound of weak beats of the drum and the strange wheezing, which sounded like something in between rain and a sandpaper, broke the silence. I tried to focus on thinking, but the sea of shadows kept me on its waves.

Eventually, I got a hole - which colored the black sea into a dark grey - into the darkness, and I was able to hear a conversation between two voices.

"-f we give some meat to Ace? He likes it almost as much as I do, and it'll get him better in no ti-!" A loud bang and a yelp of pain.

"No, Luffy! Nothing gets better by eating! He needs to rest, and not eat so much after he has wok-" I could smell the scent of a food in the air.

What the hell had just happened to me? And where am I, exactly? Where is Luffy? And the Sea Stone cyborg? My head hurt, and it was hard to remember a thing. The only thing I remembered clearly, was the moment Luffy and I hugged Sab-

Sabo is alive.

My eyes opened wide open and I sat up in seconds. My heart banged inside my chest like a hammer. Everything in front of me became blur cause of the fast sat up, but I felt how the cold sweat ran down my spine and chest. I blinked and started to look around, when I saw better.

I was on the couch and a cover - which I'd pulled away, when I sat up - was on the floor. There was a black top hat on a small table with two chairs on my left side. Above the table, the clock went on and on without leaving sound - it was half one at midnight. There was a kitchen with a stove-oven, a fridge and some cabinets on the left, which fit perfectly with the table of the size of a stamp. The scent of the food came from there and made my stomach rumble demandingly. I put my hand on it. I can't get it into my mind since when I've eaten.

A moment ago, two man did something in the kitchen - well, one of them realy tried to do something, while the other one's stretchy hand went here and there, where he could get something to eat easily -, but now they'd turned towards me right at the moment they heard something. The expressions of both were relieved and happy.

"Ace! You woke up!" exclaimed the happy, black haired boy, Luffy, while his eyes glint in joy and the mouth smiled. He was the first one to hurry beside me and sat on the end of the couch where my feet were.

"What happened?" I asked and looked frowning at Luffy, still trying to remember what happened.

"You burned out on me", Sabo, the not-anymore-dead brother, announced with a laugh and sat beside me. The fact that Sabo had been alive all these years, still hasn't imprinted in my mind then, which made me blink due few times before I smiled widely. And then, with a slight delay, I realized what he'd said.

"I… burned out? On you?" I repeated in disbelieve.

"Yeah, you collapsed on Sabo suddenly and we needed to find a house, where we could eat and fix you up", explained Luffy while drooling on his fantasy food, which made me and Sabo sweatdrop. However, Luffy snapped out of his trance and continued: "Sabo picked the lock of this house - he's a pro at that! I went and got some blood and other stuff from the infirmary 'cause Sabo told me to do so." I turned my head to Sabo and waited for an explanation from a different view.

"You had a blood loss from the gunshot wound. You know, if the oxygen's unable to get to the brain, it'll shut itself down. We carried you here, and I told Luffy to get the things I needed for the transfusion. Meanwhile, I removed that bullet from your wound and warp it up." - Unconsciously, I moved my hand again on my stomach, and felt a layer of a gauze around it. - "Surprisingly, Luffy brought everything I'd asked", he answered while giving a shrug, like it was nothing. My eyebrows went up. I'd seen plenty of transfusions, but I wouldn't still remember anything I could need in it - except the blood.

"So… You've studied yourself as a doctor? What about your dream, writing a book of your adventures?" I asked. When Sabo heard his dream out of my mouth after all of these years, he winced.

"N-no, I'm not gonna do anything like that, and I won't ever let go of my dream! Everyone in my crew just needs to know the basics of medical", explained Sabo in panic. I side-eyed him. If the transfusion is the 'basics' of medical, I should put a 'medical skills: unbelievably poor' -paper behind my back. Luffy's eyes gleamed, as if he knows something the others don't know.

"Hey Sabo, you told me that there's an okama in your crew - a king of all okamas, right? He's Ivankov, I'm sure of it! He helped me a lot in Impel Down and Marineford, and I'd have died without him!" Luffy explained in eager. "If you're in the same crew as Iva, then you're one of Revolutionaries and know my father, Dragon, right?"

As fast as Sabo heard Luffy's guess, his face turned pale, as if he'd seen a ghost. He bit his lower lip and looked really nervous.

I looked at Sabo slightly in disbelieve. My instincts knew Sabo was in something big, but a Revolutionary Army? The last thing I would have expect.

Sabo stared at his agglomerated, shaky hands uncomfortably on his lap. Finally, Luffy realized what had he said.

"Oh, is it a secret? Like the thing my father is Dragon?" If I'd have been any closer to him, I'd have hit my fist on his head again. Sabo took a deep breath.

"I.. I didn't want to tell that to you. Not that I don't like them or what I'm right now. I own your dad a lot, Luffy. He saved me from the sea after Celestial Dragon had shot me along with the ship. He took me to a doctor in person and had taken a good care of me since then. But…" Sabo clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. "…I didn't know, how you would've react. We promised we'll become pirates, the freest men on the seas. And suddenly I'd become a rebel. I didn't know, how to tell that to you. Then your Bounty came to the public, Ace - we both were 18." A feeble smile grew on his lips, and he seemed to relax a bit. "That was then, when I decided to join a group inside the Revolutionaries. They made some missions related to Marines, outside the base - on the seas. I thought I could walk into you or Luffy, when he have set sail, eventually. Well, the years past, and I got not even close enough Ace - maybe because we stay away from the big named pirates, like Four Emperors. When Luffy's Bounty got up in this year, I decided to follow his moves closely. It was very interesting - who would've know that Luffy have already defeated two Warlords", Sabo cut out in a laugh. I blinked in shock.

"T-two Warlords?!" I almost shouted and my head swung toward Luffy with a look that demand him to gave me some answer. How come that I haven't even heard of that before, or even the whole wo- No, the World Covernment won't let their weakness show outside. They'll just replace unqualified pirates to the stronger ones without a sound.

"Crocodile hurt my friend Vivi and tried to capture her kingdom, Arabasta. She wasn't able to smile in her own country and I'll never turn my back on a friend!" explained Luffy having a smoldering look even then, when he mentioned the ex-Warlord's name. It's very, very rare to have Luffy to hate somebody that much… Hold on a second, Crocodile was on Luffy's side in Marineford and even saved my life! What have happened between them..?

Luffy continued without noticing my troubled look: "And Moriah stole my and my crew's shadows, so I needed to kick his ass. Or else, we would've died, when the sun had rose." Sabo nodded and continued his own explanation.

"And then Luffy arrived the last island of the Paradise," said Sabo and instantly, his expression turned into plaintive. "At that time, Ace's date of execution declared in public. I should've guess something was wrong, when Ace disappeared all suddenly from Banaro Island. And when I heard about the execution, I asked a permission from Dragon, to let me help you in person, but he ban it. He said, if you go, then all of us will go too. Do you know how frustrating it feels, when your own brother's in trouble, and you can only suck your thumb and wait?" Sabo asked and then winced, when he realized what he'd said.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean…", he said quietly. I put my hand on his shoulder, which made Sabo's head turn towards me.

"Well, then we're even", I answered with forgiving smile.

"Yeah!" agreed wide-smiling Luffy. Sabo relaxed his strained shoulders and smiled at us grateful.

"Thank you", he thanked before he continued once again. "So, Dragon didn't let me out of the Base - in fact, it felt like everyone kept an eye on me. Then I heard of Ace's transfer from Impel Down to Marineford and Luffy almost died because of the venom of the Impel Down's head, Magellan. I took the first boat I got in my hands and rowed without a sense of direction. They found me immediately, dragged back to the Base and locked up in my room. Those two days were the longest days of my life. Luckily, my friend and partner Koala kept me on the track of things outside or I would have gone insane." Sabo smiled to himself, when he mentioned his friend's name.

"When I got out of my room, I heard you both survived from the Marineford. It felt like a heavy burden had lift away from my shoulders, but my desire to meet you after all these years, was unbearable.

I'd to deduce where you are by listening reports that came to the Base closely and looking for some missions from areas, where you would be possibly. I ended up on this island, with no name and only one village on it, which has a mission, for my surprise. So, I suggested myself on this mission, but I'd a problem - there needs to be a pair in every mission, no exceptions. Fortunately, Koala understood me and my situation. She made an excuse to herself, so she couldn't go with me.

I got on this mission by myself. The mission was to bring the Sea Stone -cyborg, or KS-01, to the Base, as whole preferably. After I'd arrived on the island, I hid inside the village's houses and waited for you to come. And I think you know the rest somehow", Sabo finished with a smile and put his hand on his throat. "Oh yeah, I forgot. I really shouldn't have tell you guys anything about the Revolutionary Army. Well, what is done, is done."

"Wow, I didn't know you'd experienced this much of stuff in these years, Sabo!" Luffy admired and joggled himself back and fort while laughing. I understood, why Luffy did that and looked like an insane man. Even being awake and still was like falling into the hell of endless boredom to him. But I was kind of surprised Luffy didn't fall asleep in the middle of Sabo's talk.

"I really haven't been in so much that you think", Sabo smiled modest and scratched the back of his head. I moved my right arm on Sabo's other shoulder and pulled our sides onto each other.

"Now, I would really like to tell one thing I wanted to tell from the beginning of your talk", I said a smile again on my lips. I'd noticed I smiled too much, and I can only blame Sabo and his sudden apparition for that. Sabo put his hand down and waited for what I'd in my mind.

"We don't give a shit, if you're a pirate, a rebel or a mar- Well, you can forget that option, because we won't ever let you become something like that. On the ship full of fishmen? No problem in it. Being a buddy of few giants? Hah, you can call that lame in the New World. Having a crew made of murderers? We pirates are usually categorized as murderers, right? The main thing's you like your crew, where you are in, because then, you're one step closer from the title of the freest man", I said and smirked at the reaction my words made on Sabo's face.

"And if somebody ever treats you bad, you've us always beside you. Nobody will ever take you brother away from us. Never!" Luffy added and hit his fist together, underlining his words. Sabo looked at Luffy speechless and lowered his head. I panicked, because I thought we made him cry. Then Sabo lifted his head up, smiling his widest smile.

"Thank you, Luffy! Ace!" he thanked, having the strong relief in his voice. Again, Luffy grinded widely and laughed his distinctive laugh. I also smiled wider, but then I smelled something acrid. Like something burns.

"Hey, what's that smell?" I asked, breaking the atmosphere around us. Both Luffy and Sabo sniffed the air. Sabo's eyes widened.

"The meat", was the only thing Sabo said before he jumped on his feet and ran to the kitchen to open the oven, which coughed black smoke up to the ceiling. Luffy and I stood up and headed towards the kitchen to witness Sabo's skills.

After we ventilated the house from the black smoke, got most of the black, burned meat - which Luffy called 'absolutely well-done' - off from the edible meat, dug out everything we could eat from a small fridge and 'borrowing' some food from the other houses, we were ready to party.

There were many causes for celebration; Sabo was alive, me and Luffy were still alive, we were together, Sabo had a girlfriend - which he refuted, having blush on his face - and… Well, if we don't have reason for a party right now, then when?

It felt like we'd flown ten years back in time. The eating usually interrupted by accusation of food thieving, but returned quickly back to its track. We'd to bring more food - where we'd as much noise as on the dining table -, waited for the maturation of oven meat - which I tried to help by 'firing the meat up' and having meat as black as Blackbeard's darkest black hole - and eat everything fresh from the oven, which made our mouths to be numb afterwards. We stopped the eating after we'd eaten all food from the village.

Luffy plumped down on the floor with rubbing his unnatural round stomach. "I'm full!" informed Luffy and patted the stomach.

"Unlike the others. You ate always a half of everything I tried to eat", I blamed him, sitting on the couch. Still, I couldn't claim I was still hungry. The last time I ate this well was at Arabasta or while I was on Buggy the Clown's ship.

"But they looked so good", Luffy argued back.

"That's not a enough reason to steal from the others!" I blurted out. There was a laughter, Sabo's laugh.

"I haven't had this much fun for ages!" he said smiling widely and took his hat from the floor on his head. Sabo looked at the clock - which still hung on the wall -, what made me to look at it also. Almost eight in morning. When I turned my head back towards Sabo, I saw him to headed to the front door.

"Where are you going?" I asked and stood up, trying to take the blonde's attention. Luffy'd suddenly digested all of food and sat up, having his normal, flat stomach. Sabo stopped and turned towards us.

"I thought I should get off of this island before Marines come here at the nine o'clock. They've a imagine of you being beaten, maybe even being drop dead", responded Sabo with a knowing smirk across his face. "I'd recommend you to leave too, if you don't wanna see yourself on an execution platform." It took us some time to register, what Sabo had said.

"WHAAAAAT?! MARINES WILL COME HERE?!" both Luffy and I shouted in astonishment at the same time. Sabo chuckled at our reaction.

"So, you're coming with me, huh?" he asked, while watching me and Luffy stumble to him.

"Hah, you think we'll let our 'not-dead' brother away just like that? You're so wrong", I said smirking confidently and put my hands on my hips.

"Alright, towards the new adventures! Now, together!" announced Luffy excited and pumped his arms in the air. The smile grew larger on Sabo's face, as he stepped outside.

Almost instantly after stepping outside, there was the Sea Stone cyborg - or remains of it - on a small grass strip, looking up to the morning sky. The shivers went down on my spine while looking at the, now amorphous, Kairouseki cyborg.

"Why is that thing lying on there?" Luffy asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I brought it here during the time you guys went ahead to get food from the center of the village", Sabo answered and walked next to the android. He squatted down on it and looked like he was ready to lift it. "Some help, please?"

Luffy shrugged and went to take a hold of cyborg's legs. Sabo lift the upper back of the half-human. I looked at the future mess while thinking, could the Sea Stone on it work on the Devil Fruit Users. Well, it didn't do anything on Luffy, so I decided to help them by getting between Luffy and Sabo and hold the lower back up.

"Don't you get some kind of a minus from having help in your mission?" I asked playfully, after we'd started to move, Sabo in the lead.

He noticed the tone of my voice and replied sarcastically, "Yeah, I can't eat for weeks - otherwise nothing."

"Shishishi, everything's like in the olden times", Luffy laughed, but then his voice got limp, "..There was…Some Sea Stone…In this guy.."

"Oops, that's right", stated Sabo.

"What do you mean 'Oops, that's right'? You couldn't forgot something like that!" I said in comical angry.

"I can't remember everything!" Sabo blurted out also comically.

"I'll let your girlfriend heard about this", I teased.

"Koala is NOT my girlfriend!" Sabo shouted again comically.

"Guys, I don't stand looooong.." moaned Luffy, as we headed to the beach, to the waist, blue sea.

Maybe.. Stepping on that island wasn't a mistake.

* * *

Again, I wanna thank you guys for writing reviews, clicking the 'follow' or/and 'favorite' buttonthingys or just simply reading! Now this story is over and done, but don't worry.. I WILL BE BACK with an another chicken-without-head story xD Till then, auf wiedersehen!


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